Running a business is one of the hardest jobs a person can choose to do. Not only do you lack the security of a normal job, but building the business requires exploring some of the many roles of a small business owner. This article will help you understand them, giving you the opportunity to properly prepare for them.
Accounting
Starting with one of the hardest roles of a small business owner, accounting is key to any venture. You need to be able to tell how much money you’re making and spending, though this is more complicated than simply keeping a spreadsheet. A lot of companies employ large teams for this role. Of course, though, when you first start out, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to afford this. Tools like Freshbooks can help you with this, providing you with everything you need to get yourself on the right track. This is one of the hardest jobs you’re going to face, while also being one of the most vital.
Human Resources
Being a small business, it’s unlikely that you have a huge team working beneath you. If you have any employees at all, though, you will need to think about how they are managed. An HR team is usually responsible for this. Their roles include taking on new team members, resolving any issues they may face, and ensuring that the business remains compliant. You probably won’t be able to afford people who will be dedicated to this task. This means that you will have to do it for yourself, and this can be an awful lot of work. It’s well worth spending some time learning about the laws you have to follow before taking on a team of your own.
Marketing
This next area is one which many business owners disregard when they first start out. While this can save some time and money, it can be devastating to the potential of your organisation, limiting you to customers who stumble upon your products. Like HR and accounting, this is an area which many large businesses employee people to handle it for them. This won’t be an option when you first start out, and your marketing will be down to you. You can find some of the different jobs associated with this below.
Content Creation: Before you can start posting on social media or printing materials, you’re going to need some content to get you started. This can be a monumental challenge, and it will be hard to know where to start. This makes it well worth looking at other company’s social media pages to see what they’ve found to be successful. Tools like Canva can make this a lot easier, though you will have to put some time into learning how to use them. Stock photos can be used, but this has to be done very carefully, as they’ve probably been posted by other companies in the past.
Post Scheduling: As any how-to social media article will tell you, there are a range of specific times in which these sites are busiest each day. Facebook, for example, is most popular in the mornings and evenings. To get the most out of your posts, it makes sense to follow this schedule. Websites like Later can help you with this, providing you with a system which can make posts on your behalf. Of course, though, you will need to learn about your demographic and the time that they are most likely to be online.
Monitoring & Engagement: Customers like it when they feel like marketing connects them to the businesses they spend money with. This makes engagement crucial to your posts, and you’ll need to reply to comments and answer questions as much as possible. Along with this, it’s also worth monitoring the success of each post to make sure that you’re always using your best techniques. There are loads of tools around the web which can help with this, though the notifications provided by social media platforms are often enough.
As you can see, marketing isn’t something which can be taken lightly. It’s easy to put a huge amount of time into this field and get nearly nothing out of it, and this can be extremely disappointing. Thankfully, ecommerce marketing services are becoming increasingly affordable. This means that even the smallest businesses out there can afford some sort of support. Even if you’re just getting advice, this can make your life a whole lot easier, while taking the pressure off when you need to focus on other aspects of your work.
Time-Management
In the past, it was very common for executives to have their own assistants. Of course, this hasn’t changed too much in larger businesses, but it isn’t something that a small business can afford. This means that you have to handle all of your own time-management. It can be all too easy to find yourself missing meetings and deadlines when you’re in this position, and a lot of people have to change the way they handle time to get over it. There are a lot of smartphone apps on the market which can help with this, and it’s well worth using them when you’re struggling with time.
Administration
Aside from your accounting work, there will be a lot of other administration tasks which need to be handled within your company. Contracts will need to be signed, invoices have to be sent out, and you could easily throw huge amounts of time into this side of your company. Computers can make this easier, but you will still have to handle the bulk of the work. Streamlined processes can help with this, giving you the chance to speed through the paperwork which fills your desk. Of course, though, you can’t rush this and make mistakes, with the quality of your work being very dependent on the time you put into it.
The Law
Like the other areas in this article, the law is something which large companies will cover with dedicated teams. It’s crucial that you’re selling products legally, while also remaining compliant with other laws. It will take time, research, and a little bit of support to get through something like this. There are companies which can handle the most vital areas, like product safety and employee relationships. It’s worth using services like this, as it can save you a huge amount of money in the future, with many business law-breaking resulting in massive fines.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of managing your own business. It’s easy to see why so many people want to avoid this sort of career, as there are a lot of jobs which come with it. It can be easy to take on too much, ultimately forcing you to duck out and take time off. Of course, though, if you’re able to find success in your own business, your future could be far more rewarding. Not only will you have the chance to get yourself a very nicely paid role, but you will also have less work, making it worth putting the time in now to enjoy comfort down the line. A lot of business owners keep this in mind when they are going through their hardest days.
1. Check out the competition
While you may make a cursory look at your industry competition, you need to pay more attention to how and what they are doing. Don’t restrict your analysis to local competition either. Broaden the search to national and international companies in your industry. There are several benefits to this:
- You can identify gaps in the services and products that both you and they offer.
- You can identify their strengths and weaknesses.
- You can keep up to date with industry news and innovations.
- You can identify successful marketing techniques, and of equal value, things that don’t work quite as well.
Thorough competitor analysis will help you refine your strategies so you can gain a competitive edge.
2. Audit your website
Search engines like Google and Yahoo constantly update their algorithm. Keywords and strategies you used when setting up the site may no longer be relevant. The current algorithms used by search engines demand more from webmasters. As well as reviewing keywords, you need to assess and evaluate:
- The site loading speed
- Including unique and quality content
- Responsiveness of the site to different devices
- The authority of the pages that provide the backlinks
- The quality of the technical code
All these elements can impact your website’s ranking position and visibility. If the technical side of the website is beyond your skill-set, you should outsource the task.
Similarly, ensuring that your backlink profile makes a positive impact on your ranking position can be delegated to the professionals. Click Intelligence, for example, will ensure that links are from relevant, authoritative sites that Google will give weight to. Links from poor quality sites that lack search engine trust will damage your ranking so it’s important that you manage your link profile effectively.
3. Ask Customers for Feedback
Customers and clients are in the best position to give valuable insights into your business. They are the end users and have a unique perspective of your business’ products or services. Customer feedback can help you:
- Improve products and services to meet their needs
- Improve customer experience
- Measure customer satisfaction
- Demonstrate that you value the customer
- Improve customer engagement with your brand.
The key to business is success in developing strong relationships with your audience. It encourages one-time customers to be brand advocates. With increased online visibility, enhanced customer engagement and expert industry knowledge, the foundations are laid for success.